Track 10

1. Every "to" form ends in -ar, -er or -ir Grammar

All verbs in the "to" form end in the letter r, and it is always one of three endings. You already have an example of each.

-ar · -er · -ir

simular, revelar, respirar
the -ar group, around a thousand examples

saber
to know, the -er example

venir
to come, the -ir example

The -ar group is huge because it is the one these convertible verbs are built from.

respiración → respirar, literally "to respire", which is how you say to breathe.

2. What actually makes something a verb Concept

At school we learn verbs are "doing words", which is really unhelpful. Is is a verb, but if you say he is here, what is he doing? Nothing.

The real test is whether you can put to in front of it. To be, to stay, to go. Is is a verb because it comes from to be: we do not say "he be here". In Spanish, everything that passes this test ends in r.

3. Chop the ending, add -o, move the accent Rule

To get the "I" version, take off the -ar, -er or -ir and put -o. But something else happens too: the accent moves.

intentar → intento (accent on the penultimate syllable)

This is extremely important. Intentar has the accent on the end, but intento has it on the second-to-last syllable. If you say intentó, with the accent on the end, it means he tried, which becomes useful later when you learn the past.

donar → dono
to donate → I donate

crear → creo
to create → I create

comer → como
to eat → I eat

organizar → organizo
to organize → I organize

Intentar itself is not present tense. It has no tense at all: it is the "to" form. Part of what makes the present tense is moving that accent.

No dono · Voy a comer · The z in organizo is pronounced /th/ in Spain: /organitho/.

4. Future context lets you use the present Grammar

If something in the sentence already shows you are talking about the future, you can just use the present. It sounds odd in English but it is absolutely perfect Spanish to say I eat tomorrow.

Voy a comer mañana

I am going to eat tomorrow

Como mañana

I eat tomorrow, equally correct

Como con Pablo mañana · Voy a comer con Pablo mañana · Vengo mañana (I am coming tomorrow, no word for "will" needed)

5. New vocabulary Vocabulary

comer
to eat

tener
to have

tarde
late (English slang tardy)

más
more (related to massive)

más tarde
later, literally more late

mañana
tomorrow

con
with (from con firma)

entre
between

ventilar
to ventilate

separar
to separate (an a, not an e)

segregar
to segregate

Voy a tenerlo tarde · Voy a tenerlo más tarde · Entre tú y yo (between you and I)

Another hook for saber: Homo sapiens, the wise creature.

6. tener is also -tain, and the -go irregulars Pattern

Tener is to have, but it also translates as -tain wherever that sits inside an English verb.

contener
to contain

obtener
to obtain

sostener
to sustain (sus- becomes sos-)

mantener
to maintain (main- becomes man-)

entretener
to entertain

By the rule, I have should be "teno". It is tengo: irregular, with a g popping up. The good news is that irregular verbs group together, and venir behaves the same way.

tengo

I have

vengo

I come

Spanish uses a simple verb for possession, but that is not universal. Arabic says "at me" or "with me", and Turkish says "my car there is" for I have a car. What Spanish alludes to with tener is the symbiotic side of ownership: when you own something you also belong to it, and you must maintain, sustain and contain it.